Well, it looked like hubby's job was going to be eliminated as soon as the employer could be long enough past the Federal regs on holding a service member's job during their deployment, so he started looking around for a job.

The good news: He found a great job that is basically a dream job for him, and pays almost 20% more than what he's making now. I may actually be able to retire and spend more time with my kids. Since my daughter's ADHD is causing her to really struggle with math, this will be a good thing for us. The company is paying all relocation costs and is moving us, and offering great benefits. It's ruly an amazing opportunity for us.

The bad news: it requires a cross country move from WI to PA, away from family and the home and community we've been in for 11 years. Selling a home right now is a huge challenge anywhere.

We'll be living not too far from Harrisburg, Hershey, Gettysburg, and Lancaster. Anyone have any tips on the area, remodeling, moving, surviving home sales, fun places to visit in that region, and all that jazz?

From MST3K's spoof of "Hercules Unchained"--heard as Roman medic soldiers carry off an unconscious Greek Hercules on a 1950's Army green canvas stretcher: "Hi, we're IX-I-I. Did somebody dial IX-I-I?"

The Onasi Family moving to PA? Remember to consult your consigliori and up your stake in the drugs, human trafficking and arms trafficking sectors ASAP. It's harder to invest in them later, and the element of surprise is always the biggest bonus for enterprising families. Happy organised crime!

I'm glad that things are working out in terms of benefits and pay to keep the family afloat. I know that it's going to be hard moving away from family and friends. Still just look forward head, eyes steady and heart open and things will go from there. Good luck Jae!

We'll be living not too far from Harrisburg, Hershey, Gettysburg, and Lancaster. Anyone have any tips on the area, remodeling, moving, surviving home sales, fun places to visit in that region, and all that jazz?

If you dig up a cannonball, don't put it in the car. Trust me, my butt still stings from the beating my step-dad gave me.

I've been to Harrisburg before, but it was in 4th grade, so I don't remember too much other then touring the state capital. Lancaster is really nice, with all the Amish folk and stuff (they make excellent shoo-fly pie . I also believe you can tour an Amish farm there, IIRC). Hershey is also a nice area, with the lampposts there shaped like Hershey Kisses, and it always seems to smell like chocolate. Never been to Gettysburg, but heard that the old battlefield is very nice.

For amusement parks, Hershey has Hershey Park. It's a whole lot of fun, with all the roller coasters, water park, the factory tour, pretty much stuff for the entire family. There's another amusement park in Lancaster, Dutch Wonderland, but it's more for younger kids, so depending on how old your kids are, Jae, you might want to keep it in mind.

As for the area, PA is semi-rural. I've yet to see suburbia in the state. That's not to say there aren't towns; there are, but it's often more like villages instead. It's nice to look at, but sometimes I wish it was more developed, as alot of the theaters and malls near me are 20-30 minute drives in Delaware. Not sure about the area you're moving to, though.

Hope all of that helps.

P.S. I live roughly 45 min - 1 hour from Lancaster.

"There is no such thing as coincidence, only inevitability" - xxxHoLiC

@Pho3nix: PA is short for Pennsylvania, yes. Sorry about that lack of explanation!

@ Ping: We'll be living in or near a town of about 40k, so not too bad. I think we're only going to be about an hour from Baltimore, so 'civilization' won't be too far off. After having lived in Chicago for about 3 years and then between Chicago and Milwaukee for a good half or more of my life, I'll be glad to get out of the city rat-race and slow down.

It'll also be nice not to have such bitter cold in the winter as WI gets.

From MST3K's spoof of "Hercules Unchained"--heard as Roman medic soldiers carry off an unconscious Greek Hercules on a 1950's Army green canvas stretcher: "Hi, we're IX-I-I. Did somebody dial IX-I-I?"

@ Ping: We'll be living in or near a town of about 40k, so not too bad. I think we're only going to be about an hour from Baltimore, so 'civilization' won't be too far off. After having lived in Chicago for about 3 years and then between Chicago and Milwaukee for a good half or more of my life, I'll be glad to get out of the city rat-race and slow down.

It'll also be nice not to have such bitter cold in the winter as WI gets.

I live a little more than an hour away from Baltimore myself, though it's far enough we don't visit often. Winters might not be bitter cold in PA, but the snow tends to just accumulate like crazy.

"There is no such thing as coincidence, only inevitability" - xxxHoLiC

Moving to another country is much harder... especially if it's on a different land mass/continent.

I guess one can get used to the change. Until I was 22, I moved every 2-3 yrs and then I stopped and started to get bored to stay at the same place for longer (I got a job that requires travel to compensate).

@ Jae: Good luck with the move. I hope everything will go as planned. If you ever visit Montreal/Quebec (you won't be very far) let me know - beware of the potholes on your way though: it looks like its been raining meteorites here...

Long moves can be very stressful. I moved from Arizona to Washington in 2008. Good luck!

Interested in hosting a your KOTOR or TSL mod at FileFront? Send your mod HERE and we'll validate it as soon as we can! FileFront is a good way to get publicity for your mod as we get 1000's of visitors everyday. Is my LucasForum PM box full again? If you really need to reach me, PM me at YouTube under the username: Shem L -- Watch my KOTOR videos! Download my mods from FileFront!

just two things to remember: Penn State and Steelers are like God and Jesus around there. you'd probably be OK with the Bears stuff, but you might want to reconsider anything red, white, and "Buckeye" printed....

oh yeah, and if you do want some roller coasters in your future, Kennywood (outside Pittsburgh) is a much more thrilling proposition than Hershey. you'll just miss out on the chocolate.

Ugh, I moved from Minnesota out to the East Coast in 2002 (22 hour drive non-stop was fun!), and I go to school near the area you'll be in.

First of all, you'll probably have a good time taking your family to Hershey Park! Great amusement park and just a really fun place to visit in general (and it smells wonderful)! Also, keep in mind that Six Flags is only a state over, so if you find yourself in Jersey, that'll help your thrill-seeking out if you're looking for it

I don't know how much you follow sports, but I live and die by Minnesota sports, and I've survived in the East for over 8 years now. You'll find a very healthy balance of all different kinds of fans for football and hockey. Since you'll be in Eastern PA, you'll meet a lot of Ravens, Steelers, Redskins, and Eagles fans based on the group of people you are around. As for baseball, it's almost all Phillies fans (although you'll find some Orioles fans as well). For hockey, you'll be around Caps and Flyers fans. Basketball...um...mostly Sixers fans, but I don't hear too much about that sport.

If you're looking for any kind of local sports, the York Revolution are the local "minor league" team in York (even though they're not really minor league in technical terms). Lancaster also has a team in the same league as well. The Harrisburg Senators are an ACTUAL minor league team affiliated with the Washington Nationals. They always provide a good time for a nice, cheap, relaxing evening of baseball. I hear the Hershey Bears are good too (minor league hockey).

Gettysburg, of course, you HAVE to visit the battlefield. I go to school in the area, and I've only been there once (when I was a kid), but it still sticks with me to this day. A truly amazing experience.

If you do find yourself in Harrisburg or Lancaster (or maybe even York), you're not too far out of Baltimore either which is a great city (see: Inner Harbor).

Since I don't live in the area full-time, I can't give you too much insight on the home-buying aspect of the area...sorry. If you plan on being there through your daughter's educational career and beyond, there are some GREAT colleges close to home if that is your/her cup of tea, but that is a conversation for much later I'm sure!

One thing that I will warn you about is the driving. I've driven all over the country...and as a whole...there are no WORSE drivers than those in PA. Where New York drivers are fast and dangerous, and midwest drivers can be just plain slow, Pennsylvania drivers are just the most OBVLIVIOUS people behind the wheel known to man. Keep your eyes open (even in parking lots!).

The winters can be CRAZY in PA! While it may not get as cold as I was used to in Minnesota (which I'm sure is comparable to Wisconsin), it sure snows like crazy. The only difference...Pennsylvania is 10000x less prepared to deal with the snow in terms of equipment and manpower than midwest states, so there will be several days out of the year where you can't really leave your house at all because the roads won't be cleared for a loooong time - it's great for school cancellations though

Hope that you find at least some of this information helpful/relevant. If you do have any more questions about the area, let me know! You're lucky you're moving to PA and not Jersey or New York since the culture shock from WI won't be nearly as bad as the people are actually quite similar to midwesterners in many ways! Best of luck!

I know I hated my first big move when I was 8. By the time I was about to head off to uni though, I was deadly bored of the new place, so I can only imagine how boring it would've been had I not moved. Since then I've taken the D3 route of a travel-heavy job.

If your kids are anything like I was, they'll be pretty upset about going so far away from their friends. However, if they're younger than high-school age, realistically, they'd most likely drift apart from their current friends and make new ones anyway. Although that's obviously not a comfort to them in the short term, I've found it's easier to later resume a friendship with someone I moved away from, as opposed to gradually drifted apart from. Also, especially with this fancy internet thing, nowadays it's far easier to stay in touch with really good friends than it would've been in the past.

@ Ping: We'll be living in or near a town of about 40k, so not too bad. I think we're only going to be about an hour from Baltimore, so 'civilization' won't be too far off. After having lived in Chicago for about 3 years and then between Chicago and Milwaukee for a good half or more of my life, I'll be glad to get out of the city rat-race and slow down.

It'll also be nice not to have such bitter cold in the winter as WI gets.

Baltimore's a cesspool. Try not to trip over the mountains of cocaine you'll likely encounter whenever you're on foot in that area. If, for some reason, you ever need to visit eastern Baltimore, carry a loaded gun with you. If you're a liberal, meditate on your irrational fear of weaponry, and carry a loaded gun anyway. Getting chased away by armed gangbangers isn't fun, and I can tell you that from experience.

Real estate sucks everywhere - blame the federal government. Either way, I hope you like PA - I know I do.

Gettysburg, of course, you HAVE to visit the battlefield. I go to school in the area, and I've only been there once (when I was a kid), but it still sticks with me to this day. A truly amazing experience.

QFT

I really don't know how to describe it, but we went on a family vacation when I was 13 years old (I know this because that was the one and only vacation my family ever took as two weeks cooped up in a car with a 13,14 and 15 year olds was too much for my parents). My most vivid memory of the vacation is Gettysburg. All three of us had/have the reverence of a gnat, but at Gettysburg we spoke like we were in a church attending the funeral of a favorite aunt. Other than the great cannonball incident later that day away from Gettysburg, that was the only day of peace for my poor stepfather had that entire vacation.

The knowledge that nearly 8,000 people died and around another 27,000 were wounded on those grounds profoundly affected the three of us that day. Besides the Alamo, I don’t believe I have ever been moved to that extent from a historical site (I have to say Alamo it is a Texas law).

Visiting Gettysburg will probably be like how I felt visiting the Vietnam war memorial or watching the ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns--solemn and rather somber.

@Ping and urluckyday--I live right on Lake Michigan, and we can get some epic snowfalls--80 inches a year is not unusual, and the winter before last I think we hit almost 120. So, 30 or so inches is going to be a breeze in comparison. Most rural areas can't handle any snowfall well. I lived in Missouri for about 6 years for undergrad, and I'm used to the "OMG 1 inch of snow CLOSE EVERYTHING!!" mentality, as well as amused.

@Liverandbacon and Darth333--I moved so often during my college years that I was very happy to settle down for a good long time. I'm looking forward to seeing a new part of the country, however. The only bad thing is we're moving the kids out of a terrific school district with an outstanding music program, and trying to figure out which school districts are the best in any given town is extremely difficult. I _think_ we found a good one, but it'll be hard to tell until we actually get there.

@Pavlos--I promise to come see York if I ever make it to the UK for a visit. I love history, no matter how long or short it may be.

@Ping and Confederal--I lived in Chicago for awhile, and still go down there regularly, so I've seen some pretty rough areas. Still, it's nice to know which ones to stay away from.

@stingerhs--give up rooting for OSU? Are you nuts?
I'm looking forward to cheering for the Cubs at a Nationals game.
I do enjoy minor league baseball a lot--it's nice to know there will be a team nearby.

Thanks for all the tips! Looks like there will plenty of cool stuff for us to do.

From MST3K's spoof of "Hercules Unchained"--heard as Roman medic soldiers carry off an unconscious Greek Hercules on a 1950's Army green canvas stretcher: "Hi, we're IX-I-I. Did somebody dial IX-I-I?"

Looking at what urluckyday wrote, I have to agree with everything stated in his lengthy post. PA drivers seem to drift into the other lane on occasion...

And to add to the sports, it seems baseball is the most popular (then again, I live closer to Philly, so there might be a regional difference) with football as a second. As I am a soccer fan (and get more crap than I should because of it :¬: ), I don't follow either, but anyone can tell you that Philly sports teams are characterized by two things: nasty fans (smoke bombs get thrown when the Union scores goals, for example), and usually making it to the playoffs of their respective leagues (usually). Eagles are the NFL team, 76ers in NBA, Flyers in NHL, Phillies in MLB, and the Union for MLS; listed for your convenience.

Edit: Forgot to mention why to stay away from Chester: it's Philly's ghetto, right outside of the city. Worst place I have ever seen.

"There is no such thing as coincidence, only inevitability" - xxxHoLiC

It's Chester you want to stay away from. Philadelphia is just a little dirty.

Come on now. Philly is the city of brotherly love ya know

I've been to the East but unfortunately it has been limited to a visiting experience. I gave a conference in Baltimore and spent a day on the train to get to DC.

If anything I'd give kudos to the train systems in the major cities. Public transportation is the best way to see the types of characters that live in town. My more vivid experiences came when I lived in Chicago for a year and man the people I met there...

Glad that jimbo got the job and I hope things work out in the end for you Mama Jae.

I had to take a licensing test in Chicago to practice in IL when I first moved up there from our brief stint in Texas. My hubby assured me the L-trains were completely safe. So, I got on and rode the green line down to my stop which was on the South side of Chicago. Right at the Robert Taylor projects--which have since been torn down because they were that crime-ridden they'd pretty much been destroyed. Two stops before my stop, some guys got on and walked through the train, selling crack. I was dismayed to discover they got off at the same stop I got off at. They didn't seem to mind, and fortunately we ended up walking off in different directions. It didn't take me long to realize that I was not safe even in broad daylight, but fortunately it was early enough in the day that most of the drug dealers and crackheads were still asleep. My sister, who has been living in Chicago for the last 20-ish years, freaked out when she found out I'd been walking through one of the most dangerous places in the city--and survived just fine, but I think I had an angel or two watching out for me that day.

@JediMaster12--heh--your comment about the characters on the trains reminded me of this Bill Cosby story. The sound is pretty low so you might have to turn it up. Anyone who's ridden public transportation in a big city will appreciate it. It's clean, too.

YouTube Video

From MST3K's spoof of "Hercules Unchained"--heard as Roman medic soldiers carry off an unconscious Greek Hercules on a 1950's Army green canvas stretcher: "Hi, we're IX-I-I. Did somebody dial IX-I-I?"